A Reason To Live
by chrizsanz
Summary: He hated her. She hated him. They both devoted their lives to seek revenge. They both have lost themselves in the darkness of hate and self destruction. But maybe, they can save each other and give them a reason to live. Epic length. Naruto/FemSasuke. . Rated T for now.
1. The meeting

**A Reason To Live**

_M/F, Naruto/FemSasuke. _

_Rated T to M in the future. _

**Chapter 1.**

* * *

_Three years into the future..._

* * *

She could hear his voice.

His beautiful voice that she once hated. Later found just loud and annoying. Then before she knew it, she yearned to hear a whisper of his voice.

She could hear his voice now, loud and clear. Calling out to her, shouting her name as he looked for her frantically through out the hidden base of Orochimaru. She couldn't help but smirk slightly to herself before paying attention back to the assailant who just tried to kill her in her sleep. An almost creepy, male version of herself, the shinobi that called himself Sai had come back with Orochimaru and Kabuto with the premise of being on their side. Giving them proof of his defection with the names of the ANBU Black Ops from Konoha.

Well, obviously it was all a ploy just to get close enough for the pale shinobi to try and kill her. Try, being the key word at this very moment.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I've heard much about you back in Konoha. Details and various information I needed to know to make sure I can assassinate you with little to no trouble." Sai stated coldly with no emotion on his face. "But yet, I have learned more about you in the past three days than I have in the last three years from the best spies."

...

"From whom, may I ask?" Sasuke's calm voice sent a shiver down Sai's spine after a moment of silence, though he didn't let it show. The information Ne had gotten about the Uchiha's level of strength was greatly misinformed.

"Two words." the Ne shinobi answered back before closing his eyes, not expecting those words to bring about what would happen next.

"Uzumaki..._Naruto_."

Sai never saw it coming and before he knew it, he was escaping one of the biggest explosions of his life. A mild look of shock appeared on his face, which was a lot for him as he fought to save his life from the display of power. Sasuke grimaced as she released a powerful jutsu that blew the roof off the entire section where her room once was and jumped to the top of the massive crater. He dared to say..._his_ name to her? He had no right to say his name in front of her! The one she...

The one she...

The one she...

Sasuke didn't even know what he was to her anymore. Not after all that had happened between them three years ago. How could she even...

"Sasuke?" a voice whispered out to her as her body froze at her name being called out. Her line of sight went from the crouching Sai to the new figure appearing in the open door way. The sunlight gleaming off his blonde hair as his deep, dark, blue eyes looked up into her jet black orbs. His tanned face and arms glistening with sweat as her name danced across his lips again with more absolution.

"Sasuke."

"Naruto." Sasuke could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smile on her former..._teammate's_ face when she said his name back. Suddenly, two more people joined in the fray and ran out of the opening as well up behind the blonde shinobi.

"It's her. Uchiha Sasuke." the obvious leader of the squad muttered as her other, former teammate looked shocked at the sight of her standing above them. High above them like she should be. Like she deserved to be. She was the powerful one now. She needed the power to kill her brother, so she left her home, her team...him to obtain that power.

"Sasuke." Sakura whispered as Naruto slowly walked closer to his former nakama's place. "Naruto! Don't!"

He didn't answer as his eyes never left hers. Sasuke kept her eyes on his as well, her face calm and unchanged during this whole ordeal. He was taller now, but he was always taller than her. Naruto wore a sleeveless black hoodie now underneath a Chunnin jacket with matching pants as his shins and the top of his shoes were covered by dark green, leather leggings. In a blink of an eye and much to the surprise of everyone except her target, Sasuke appeared right in front of Naruto and slightly off to the side as she wrapped an arm around his neck.

"You look well." she whispered in his ear, her rather large bust pressing against his well built chest as her fingers ran through his blonde locks. "Did you miss me? You did come all this way."

"I came here to save you. To bring you home, Sasuke." Naruto whispered back, his hot breath tickling her cheek.

"I don't want to be saved, Naruto. I told you that the last time we met, remember? Before I stuck my hand into your chest." Sasuke retorted as her hand made its way from his neck, down to the middle of his chest. Her fingers gently tracing where her Chidori struck him almost three years ago.

Naruto chuckled softly. "If memory serves, I told you the same thing when we were on Team Seven. That I didn't wanted to be saved from my revenge consuming my soul. You still saved me from falling into that darkness."

"There's a difference..._Naruto-kun_." Sasuke whispered softly as her hand left his chest and slowly gripped the handle of her sword. "You got your revenge. I haven't. So tell me, how did I save you from your revenge if you already achieved it?"

"Simple..._Sasuke-chan_." Naruto answered as he wrapped an arm around Sasuke's waist and pressed his lips against her cheek, right next to her ear. "I didn't kill myself afterwards like I planned to all along."

Her fingers tightened around the black handle as she slowly pulled the sharp blade of her sword out from its sheath. Sasuke held the sword high above them as she whispered back into his ear before kissing his whiskered cheek.

"Well, if I saved you from yourself back then. Who's going to save you now..._from me_?"

* * *

_Three years ago..._

* * *

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Sasuke sighed as she looked up at the clock from between her intertwined hands for the millionth time. She looked back at the door and grind her teeth against each other as her angry rose again. Their sensei was late, _really_ late and it was pissing her off! She was supposed to be going out and getting stronger, not waiting around for a tardy teacher with some pink haired bimbo who is trying way too hard to be her friend.

Not to mention they were also waiting for some mystery Genin from a previous year who was joining their team because of an odd number of graduates. Iruka-sensei didn't say who the Genin was or why he was leaving his old team, just said that he will join them along with their sensei very soon.

Soon, my ass. Now not only did Sasuke had to deal with her pink haired bimbo of a teammate and a lazy sensei, she had to deal with some loser who couldn't cut it with their own team.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Sasuke sighed again.

She was going to kill somebody very soon if these two mystery shinobi didn't show up soon. Fortunately for the last loyal Uchiha, she wasn't the only one annoyed and frustrated.

"Oh my God! Where are they? It's been four hours!" Sakura Haruno shouted in frustration as she pulled on her long, pink hair. Sasuke scoffed at her teammate's outburst before softly tugging on her own long hair in similar frustration. Though not as long as Sakura's, she did keep her hair in good condition. Just shorter for combat purposes.

First time out in battle, Sakura would probably get her head chopped off because of its length.

"Just relax. They'll be here." Sasuke spoke up, immediately calming down the pink haired Genin. "When they do, then you can yell all you want."

"Sorry, Sasuke." Sakura replied quickly, just happy her idol had finally said something to her since class started. Actually it was more than she had spoken to her since the year had started. "Just can't get ready to get started. I wondered who is our third teammate? It's unusual for an experienced Genin to join a new team of rookies."

"Hmm."

"I know, right? Maybe their teammates got promoted and they got left behind? Great. We're going to have some loser on our awesome team."

"Hmm."

"And what is going on with our sensei? Is he lost? Did he forget about us? Is he that lazy? Is he stuck in the bathroom after drinking some bad milk? I don't understand why our luck is so bad!"

"Hmm."

"So, after we finish this meeting, do you want to go shopping and we can..." Sakura rambled on as Sasuke continued to nod as if she were still listening to her. To be honest, she stopped listening after 'Sorry, Sasuke' and tuned the pink hair girl out. Sometimes, she wished she was born a boy and could avoid all this girly stuff like gossip and shopping. Sasuke couldn't help but feel like she was meant to be one.

Hell, her name alone was a boy's name. She wanted to be a boy growing up to please her father. To get his attention and praise so she did boyish things. Her father himself wanted another boy and thought she was going to be one. Fate however, had a sense of humor and made her a girl. So he focused all of his attention on her older brother and none on her. Then fate again, showed a sick sense of humor with Itachi killing their father and their whole clan. The boy he always wanted.

And so now, she wanted to kill her brother. The boy she always admired and wanted to be.

Irony in its sickest form.

Sasuke quickly shook her head of the dark thoughts and focused back on the clock, waiting for her new teammate and sensei that was supposed to be here hours ago. They better be here soon, not for their health, but for the pink haired banshee next to her. Because if she didn't stop talking soon, she was going to grab a kunai and stick it in Sakura's...

"Hello?" a tuff of silver hair stuck out from the classroom door as it slid open to reveal a masked man with one eye covered by his Hitai-ate. "Are you Team Seven?"

"Are you Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as the silver haired Jounin nodded. "THEN YES! WHY ARE YOU SO LATE?!"

"Ah, sorry. I got lost on the road of Life. Took a wrong turn." Kakashi smiled with his only visible eye as both girls sweat dropped at their teacher's reason for being late. He opened his eye to count the number of students he had on his team as he cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Wasn't I supposed to have three students? I only see two." Kakashi asked as he walked into the room, fully revealing himself to his two students. He was a tall man with gravity defying, silver hair and a basic Jounin uniform. The only part of his face that showed was his right eyes with a mask and Hitai-ate covering the rest.

"We're supposed to be meeting them here, but they are late too!" Sakura screeched, making both Sasuke and Kakashi cringed in pain.

"Right, right. You guys are getting a veteran Genin on your team. Well, if he isn't here in one minute, I guess I'll have to fail you." Kakashi smiled again.

"What? Fail us? We already passed our exam!" Sakura stated in surprise. "That's why we're here."

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Pinkie here. We passed our exams. I'm actually the Rookie of the year. The only girl to ever become one, by the way." Sasuke smirked in a rare display of pride. "And Sakura here got the highest marks in the written test.

"My, my. It's an honor. But you guys...err, girls will still fail if they don't show up. The exams you took were just to weed out the hopeless ones. The real exam lies with the Jounin instructors. Out of all the graduates from this year, over sixty-six percent won't make the cut." Kakashi shrugged with his hands in the air. "Them's the breaks."

"Wait, so that means only nine of us will pass?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi looked at his pink haired student with a deadpanned stare before turning to Sasuke. "Highest marks, you say?"

Sasuke shrugged. "So you're really gonna fail us in a minute just because of some loser who couldn't cut it from their own year? We get punished because of some loser that..."

"Big talk from a rookie who hasn't gotten their hands dirty yet." a fourth voice joined the conversation all of a sudden, surprising two of the three occupants in the room. Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to see a blonde boy about their age, only taller than them, staring out of the window as he leaned against the wall. "He's not going to fail you guys, at least not now. He knows that I've been here and I was just outside waiting for him to show up."

He wore a simple black hoodie with long sleeves and a fish net shirt underneath. His pants matched with fish nets closing off the bottom cuffs and into his shoes. His hands were covered in full black gloves with the first two fingers missing from both hands. To finish the outfit off, he wore his black forehead protector around his head. The blonde had his yellow hair cut short and dark bags underneath his deep blue eyes.

"Wait, don't I know you?" Sakura took a closer look at the blonde as Sasuke came to the same realization at the same time Sakura did. "Yeah, I do! You're Naruto. Uzu-something Naruto. Didn't you fail your exam two years ago?"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose as the memory came back to her. The blonde boy was in their class a few years ago. He had been in the academy for two years already when she started at the age of eight. When they were ten, he qualified to take the exam but failed horribly from her understanding. "She's right. You did fail, but you never came back even though you had two more tries."

Naruto scoffed, not looking at the two questioning girls as he looked at his new sensei. "So I'm stuck with Pinkie and Emo girl here? Great."

"Says the Dobe who failed his own exam. How are you here if you dropped out?" Sasuke retorted, annoyed at the blonde's dead toned voice.

"Because I didn't fail, Ms. Rookie of the year." Naruto's eyes left the window and met with Sasuke's as she felt a chill enter the room. "Don't assume when you know nothing. It can get you and your team killed. Rule number twenty-two, isn't that right, Sakura?"

Sakura slowly nodded, feeling the tension between Sasuke and Naruto who was nothing like she remembered. He was a loud mouthed, hyperactive, stubborn knucklehead. Always shouted he would be Hokage someday and wore crazy amounts of orange clothing. That Naruto was nothing like this one. This Naruto was almost, well, almost like Sasuke. Quiet, dark, and brooding. Scary, even.

Sasuke was thinking nearly the same thing. Only Naruto didn't scare her, just pissed her off. His attitude was make her angry and she started to hate every word coming out of his mouth.

"Well...this was fun. Let's meet up at the roof and finish this meeting up, okay?" Kakashi sweat dropped at the whole scene before he shunshined to the roof to avoid even more awkwardness from his students. The three new teammates stood there, alone in the classroom before Naruto scoffed at his new squad and looked away.

"You guys...my first impression is, you suck." Naruto muttered before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke grimaced as her black eyes steeled at where Naruto was a moment ago before growling to herself and stood up to make her way upstairs.

Oh yeah. She was going to hate him.


	2. The test

**A Reason To Live**

_M/F, Naruto/FemSasuke. _

_Rated T to M in the future. _

**Chapter 2.**

* * *

_Training Ground Seven. 6am._

* * *

"Who in the hell does that blonde think he is?" Sasuke muttered to herself. She had been sitting under a tree by herself since dawn, ready for the test that will determine her status as a shinobi.

"Shinobi. I'm a shinobi." she repeated to herself. She hated to call herself a kunoichi. Kunoichi were weak, shinobi were strong and she needed to be strong. She had to be in order to kill her brother, to exact her revenge for her family. Sasuke scoffed after that thought, reminding her what the Dobe had said yesterday at their meeting.

_'I'm Naruto. I don't care about likes or dislikes. I have only one goal in mind and that's kill a certain trio of missing-nin.'_

Sasuke gritted her teeth once more at the thought of that blonde stealing her...moment and declaration about killing a certain person. She was the one that had a need for revenge, not the Dobe. She wanted to let the team know that she only had a desire to get stronger and not to be a part of a squad. That the blonde had no reason to be that way. Although, his statement did make her curious and reminded Sasuke of herself at times.

Sasuke scoffed again. Like she was anything like that dropout. She was stronger and she would rise above being with a team. Becoming a Jounin with great power, not drop back down with a rookie Genin team. Acting like she was superior like the blonde did with them and all aloof. Looking all **_hot_ **and **_attractive_ **and...

"What the hell am I thinking?!" Sasuke scolded herself loudly, breaking out of her deep thoughts. The Dobe wasn't...hot and attractive! He was a loser who was kicked out of his team or got left behind.

He...he...he...was...

"Hi, Sasuke!" Sasuke sighed in relief. She never thought she would be so happy to hear Sakura's voice. "Has Kakashi-sensei shown up already?"

Sasuke shook her head at the question. "No. He's not here yet. But I'm sure he will be soon. He wouldn't be late twice."

"Yeah, he wouldn't do that." Sakura laughed as she took a seat next to her idol under the huge tree. "No teacher is that lazy and I'm sure Naruto will be here soon too."

"Whatever. As long Kakashi passes me, I don't care about that loser." Sasuke grunted, unladylike. "Any minute now."

...

...

...

* * *

_Four hours later._

* * *

"OH MY GOD! WHERE IS HE? IT'S ALMOST LUNCH TIME AND HE SAID TO BE HERE AT DAWN!" Sakura screeched as she jumped onto her feet. "AND WHERE THE HELL IS NARUTO?"

Sasuke moaned softly in pain, her headache growing worse with Sakura's ranting. She tended to get headaches when she was really hungry and her teammate's shouting didn't help. Sasuke was by no means starving herself like other girls, she was just following instructions given by Kakashi. No eating because this exam would be so hard that they will throw up.

"Arrgghh! What the hell? How can they do this to us again?" Sakura faked tears that streamed down her cheeks. "I'm...so...hungry!"

"You're hungry because you don't eat like you're supposed to and this is making it worse. I bet you skipped dinner too, didn't you?" Sasuke pointed out as Sakura's head dropped low in shame.

...

"Yes."

The sound of crunching grass suddenly brought them out of their mood and grabbed their attention. They looked up to see a well rested Kakashi walking up to them with a backpack over his shoulder. He stopped short a few feet away from them and waved his hand hello in a friendly manner to his students.

"Good morning, students. Are you ready for your test today?" Kakashi asked them with an eye smile.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled, pointing her finger in her sensei's face. "AGAIN!"

"Ah, well. A black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around to avoid getting bad luck. I wasn't going to let anything stop me from getting here to test my favorite students." Kakashi explained as he patted Sakura's pink hair and then wiping his hand on his vest. "You might want to hold back on the hair products."

"You're lying! Plus, Naruto's not here either." Sakura stated as Sasuke gave her teacher a dirty look and was about to say something as well before being interrupted.

"Yeah, I am. Been here all morning." Sasuke froze at the voice, her teeth finding themselves grinding again. How was he here without her noticing? "Up here."

They all looked up to see the blonde high up in the very tree Sasuke and Sakura had been sitting under the whole morning. His legs were stretched along a long branch as he leaned back against the massive trunk. His arms were crossed with his eyes closed as if he was taking a nap. He unfolded his arms and stretched them out before he picked up a leg and spun off the tree branch and landed between Kakashi and his new team.

"So, the test?" Naruto asked calmly, much to the annoyance of his female team member.

"Well, actually about that. You don't have to take it, my blonde student. You've proven yourself to be a Genin already. This test would be for Sakura and Sasuke to see if they're ready to be Genin." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, did I forget to mention that yesterday?"

"Yes!" Sakura had to answer as Sasuke threw another dirty look, but this time at Naruto who just shrugged.

"Fine with me. Pass them, fail them. I don't care. I told the old man I didn't even want to be on a new team. I've managed just fine on my own." Naruto waved his hand in dismissal. He walked back to the tree and plopped himself down on the grass next to Sasuke before leaning back on the trunk. "Just wake me up when it's all said and done."

"Whatever. I don't need you and Sakura to pass this test. Let's just get started already." Sasuke quickly jumped to her feet, wanting to get as far away from the blonde as possible.

"Yeah, what Sasuke said." Sakura agreed quietly, obviously put down about what her idol had said about her.

"Well, then. This isn't awkward." Kakashi sweat dropped before taking off his backpack and pulling out a set of bentos, two bells, and an alarm clock. "Anyways, if you think you were surprised about that tidbit of information. Wait until I tell you about test and this lunch boxes."

Kakashi smirked as both Sasuke and Sakura face planted into the ground. This was going to be fun for him.

* * *

Sasuke screamed out in pain as she was kicked across the field again by her powerful sensei. He may have been acting like a lazy fool this whole time, but obviously he was a Jounin for a reason. She had thrown everything she had at him, but failed to grab a single bell. Sasuke quickly rolled back and landed on her feet once again, grasping her tender ribs from the blow.

Kakashi was just standing there in the middle of the damaged field, not even fazed from her attacks. She didn't even know where Sakura was, hearing her scream over an hour ago. Sasuke had no idea what had happened to her, but obviously Kakashi took her out from this seemingly impossible test almost immediately. She quickly glanced over to the sleeping blonde over by the tree and felt extreme hatred growing for him inside her chest.

Why did the loser get an automatic pass? He was the one left behind by his team and had the worse grades in school. She was the one that needed power and now she knew that her teacher could give it to her, she was more determined to get a bell now than ever. She didn't need him or that useless pink haired wannabe.

"So, this is the power of the Uchiha clan? Not that impressive really. I expected more from **_his_ **little sister, but I guess I was wrong." Kakashi stated with a wave of his hand.

This infuriated Sasuke to no end. He dared to mention **_him_ **right in front of her face? In a blur of speed, Sasuke managed to get above the silver haired Jounin and delivered an axe kick to the top of his head. Only to have it deflected by Kakashi's palm and countered with a fist to her stomach. But she expected that and quickly grabbed his wrist in order to spin herself upside down in mid air. Pulling herself downwards, Sasuke reached out with her free hand and for a brief moment, touched one of the bells with the tip of her fingers.

The bells gently rung from the touch as Kakashi's eye widened at the noise and managed to push the young girl away. He let out a breath of relief, only to suck it back in when he saw the hand seals that she was making in mid air. "No way. New Genin don't have chakra to perform those kind of jutsu yet!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke sucked in a large breath of air before landing on her feet in a sliding motion. As soon as she stopped sliding, Sasuke released a huge ball of fire out from between her supple lips.

The fire consumed the spot Kakashi was standing in as the attack made direct contact. The flamed licked and kissed the grass surrounding the Jounin as waves of heat could be seen from the burning sphere. Sasuke managed to keep up the attack for ten seconds before releasing the jutsu and fell to her knees, taking in large gasps of air. Her hand held her up from falling forward as she kept her eyes on the flaming inferno she caused in the middle of the grassy field. She almost chuckled at the sight, her jutsu surprising her much older sensei.

"I guess you shouldn't have underestimated me. I don't lose. I'm not easy to take down like Sakura. You hear me, Kakashi-sensei? That's what you deserve!" Sasuke stated in a cocky voice. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke! I'm the Rookie of the year and I will be a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf."

"That's good to hear, although a bit premature." Sasuke could hear Kakashi's voice and looked around to find the hidden Jounin. Suddenly, a hand broke out of the ground and grasped her ankle before pulling her into the ground below. Before she knew it, Kakashi was hovering over her with a smile in his eye as she was stuck in the ground with only her head visible.

"I will admit, you are different than the others. But sometimes, that can be a bad thing. Hence my using the Earth Release: Head Hunter Jutsu without you seeing." Kakashi pointed out as he poked Sasuke on her forehead. Before he could say anything else to the female Uchiha, a shadow appeared behind and delivered a kick to his head.

"Uggh!" Kakashi grunted out as a hard heel slammed into his left temple and knocked him off his feet. Sasuke watched in shock as her sensei, someone who she had been trying to catch off guard this whole time just get kicked in his head. She squinted through the sunlight to see the shadowed figure, only to be shocked at who it was.

"Sakura?"

"What? You were expecting our blonde teammate who is currently taking nap while we fight for our future?" Sakura grinned as she shoved her hands into the ground and pulled Sasuke out with a rush of strength she had not expected from the pink haired girl.

"I thought Kakashi knocked you out?" Sasuke responded as she dusted herself off before realizing they were still in a battle. "Wait! Be careful! Kakashi is..."

"Not here." Sakura pointed at the piece of wood she just kicked. "He just Kawarimi'd us."

"Damn, we only got minutes left! I need to get a bell. Look, thanks for the save, but I can't wait around and hold your hand. I'll admit you are tougher than I thought, but I need to be his student. I need to get stronger! I need a..."

"Bell?" Sakura smirked as she interrupted the Uchiha again before holding up the two bells she swiped from Kakashi during the kick.

"But...how?" Sasuke's eyes widened in shock at the bells.

"I got quick hands. My sen...mother taught me that sometimes you need think with your hands instead of your brain." Sakura explained before tossing one to her teammate. "I realized the point of the test is not to get the bells individually, but as a..."

"Team." Sasuke interrupted this time as it hit her suddenly. "We needed to work as a team because we were assigned to a squad for a reason."

"Bingo." Sakura smiled softly before a loud ringing filled the air as they looked down at the monument where the clock was sitting. "Ah, time's up."

"Yeah, but we passed. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but thank you Sakur..." Sasuke turned to her nakama, only to see no one standing behind her. "Sakura?"

"Well, well. Looks like you girls passed the test. Congrats. I see why Sakura scored the highest marks in the written exams and now, you two finally eat. By the way, where did she go?" Kakashi looked around the the clearing, only to see trees and a sleeping blonde.

"I don't know. She just handed me a bell and then...Oh there she is, Sakura!" Sasuke called out to her new teammate as Sakura stumbled out of the trees with a hand on her head and a bell in the other.

"Owww...my head hurts. You could have been a little nicer, Kakashi-sensei and how the heck did I earn a bell?" she held up the silver bell in confusion as Sasuke became confused too.

"You stole them from Kakashi, remember? Before you kicked him in the head and rescued me from the ground. You explained the real meaning of the test to me and gave me one too." Sasuke held up her bell as Sakura looked at her idol with confused eyes.

"No, I didn't. I woke up a minute ago with this bell in my hand. I thought I earned it somehow. I don't get it." Sakura replied, wondering what Sasuke was talking about when their sensei spoke up.

"Well, then. I guess you two weren't the only ones to understand the meaning of the test then." Kakashi mused as he looked over to the small monument, then off to the side to see Naruto standing in the front of the KIA shrine. Sasuke and Sakura looked over to where the sensei was staring at as the realization hit them as well.

"Wait, are you saying that Naruto saved us? Helped us passed the test?" Sakura asked, looking at the blonde in the distant with his back to them. "Why would he do that? He said he didn't even want to be on a team."

Sasuke watched Naruto standing in front of the small statue, barely making out his hand reaching out to touch the etched marble. "No, he didn't say he didn't want to be part of a team. He said he didn't want to be part of a **_new_ **team."

Kakashi nodded as he turned back to the girls with a solemn look in his eye.

"Exactly right, Sasuke. That shrine there with all those carvings? Those are names, names of those shinobi who were KIA. People who have died for Konoha. Now, it's not my place to say anything, but I wouldn't say anymore about his team 'leaving' him behind or things like that. I would think that there is more to Uzumaki Naruto than some bad grades years ago and his current attitude toward this team." Kakashi explained as they watched Naruto slowly walk away from the shrine and disappear in a swirl of leaves.

"You mean...his team was..." Sakura's voice got caught in her throat before Sasuke finished her sentence, understanding a little bit more than Sakura about their teammate now.

"Killed in action." Sasuke finished in a soft voice.

Kakashi nodded before telling them to meet tomorrow morning at the bridge between the training grounds at nine in the morning. He disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving the two girls alone in the half destroyed field. A few minutes of awkward silence lingered between them before Sakura left the training ground with tears pooling around in her green eyes, unable to comprehend what being a shinobi meant for many people. Thus leaving Sasuke alone to her thoughts that only held one person at that moment. Her dark hair waving in the hair as she slowly walked up to the KIA shrine and touched the cold marble herself with her free hand, the silver bell still in her other hand.

"Who are you, Uzumaki Naruto?"


	3. The mission

**A Reason To Live**

_M/F, Naruto/FemSasuke. _

_Rated T to M in the future. _

_If you like my quick updates, reviews would keep them quick._

**Chapter 3.**

* * *

_Somewhere in Konoha._

* * *

"Pinkie in position. Target sighted. Fifteen meters away due east." Sakura sighed. "Kakashi-sensei, do we have to use these codenames."

"Yes. Yes, you do. Emo girl, are you in position?" Kakashi responded through the multiple headphones throughout his team.

...

"Emo girl?"

...

"...Emo girl in position, confirmed. Target in sight. Ten meters." Sasuke's voice spoke in everyone's ear with venom.

"Excellent. Sunflower, are you in position?"

...

"Sunflower?"

...

"Sunflower, are you in pos..."

"I'm not saying it."

"Say it."

"No."

"Say it."

...

"Naruto, just say it!" Sakura grunted loudly.

...

"Dobe, just say it." Sasuke sighed into the microphone. "We all had to."

...

"Say...it." Kakashi taunted as a few moments went by before a loud sigh could be heard to the rest of the team.

"Sun...flower in position. Target in sight. Eight meters." Naruto's voice cracked a bit, unwilling to say the whole word together.

"Good. Emo girl, head west and circle around. Pinkie, due east and follow the same route. Sunflower, as soon as they are within your sight, seek and capture target. Go, now!" Kakashi instructed as Team Seven went about to complete the mission.

In a blur of blue and red, both female members of Team Seven rush to surround the target as Naruto merely walked straight ahead at a leisurely pace. Sasuke gritted her teeth when she saw the lack of action from Naruto and decided to act on her own. She didn't want to do this either, but at least she was following orders. She leapt at the target who dodged the attempt with ease before running away from the blue haired girl.

"Sakura, it's heading for you!" Sasuke warned her teammate as Sakura went into action and tried to grab the target.

"You're mine! Shannaro!" a bit of Inner Sakura leaked out as she jumped with arms out, only to miss and landed face fist into the ground. The target hiss and growled as it jumped away, but not before scratching the hell out of Sasuke who tried a second time to grab the target.

"Fucking cat!" Sasuke screamed, holding her face in pain. She was better than this! She was more skilled and usually more tactful than a cat! She blamed the blonde loser for this and planned to rip him a new one until she heard a familiar voice sing out an unusual song.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty. Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty. Purr, purr, purr." Sasuke turned around to see the cat they have been after for the past hour in Naruto's arms as it slept and purred. The blonde was actually singing to the cat!

"What. The. Hell?" Sakura cursed, looking at the sight through her mud covered face. "Why didn't that damned thing run from him?"

"Target in custody. Red ribbon on left ear confirmed. Mission completed, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto calmly reported to their sensei as anger rose from inside Sasuke at the blonde's action, or lack thereof.

"You didn't complete the mission! You didn't even follow orders!" Sasuke got in Naruto's face as she growled in anger. "Sakura and I are the ones who followed orders."

"Actually, you didn't. I was following orders, heading straight to the target. You and Sakura were the ones who decided to jump after the target. If you had followed Kakashi-sensei's orders, I would have caught Tora here with no injury to you or Sakura." Naruto pointed out as he petted the sleeping cat in his arms.

"He's right, Sasuke-chan. If you had followed orders, you wouldn't have gotten scratched and Sakura here wouldn't have gotten a mud mask in the middle of the forest." Kakashi stated as he walked up to the trio of Genin, watching in amusement as Sakura tried to wipe all the mud from her face.

"But, but he didn't even run or anything!" Sakura declared, pointing angrily at the blonde.

"Sometimes the fastest way to complete mission is to slow down and think. Rule number fifty-one, right?" Naruto mused as a deadpanned look appeared on Sakura's face. Sasuke continued to stare at the bane of her existance before huffing out a grunt and turned away.

"Whatever. Let's just give the damn cat back and get another mission." Sasuke scoffed, try to keep some of her dignity as she began to walk back to the Hokage Tower.

"Another one? I was hoping to read my book some more." Kakashi pouted as he watched his students leave to complete the mission and apply for another mission.

"Save your porn for home, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto called back as Sakura and Sasuke both threw their teacher a dirty look. They were still girls, despite their occupation and found their sensei's book offensive. Kakashi sighed as he pulled out his orange book and looked at it with sad eyes.

"Soon, my love and don't listen to them. You are a piece of quality literature. You are my...precious." he said with a lowered voice, slowly caressing the cover.

"Porn!" Naruto called back again, this time in a louder voice.

"Literature!"

* * *

"Ah, excellent work, Team Seven. In record time too, if I may add." Sarutobi Sasuke spoke out to the members of Kakashi squad as Iruka nodded in agreement, both holding back their amusement at the sight of the two females covered in mud and scratches.

"Oh, Tora-chan! Mommy's missed you! Thank you again, Naruto-kun! Tora-chan's always liked you!" the Daimyo's wife exclaimed as she handed the money to the shinobi in charge of the payments. "It's always nice to see you, though the black outfit is new."

"Thank you, Lady Daimyo." Naruto bowed as Sasuke and Sakura did as well, looking at the cat being squeezed to death by the plus size woman. A hint of a devious smile appeared in both girls lips at the sight of the cat being tortured, both believing that's what it deserve. Lady Daimyo gave Tora another squeeze before turning to leave the tower.

But before she left, she stopped to take a look at Naruto's team for a moment and looked back to the blonde teen with slight confusion. "Naruto-kun, where's Asami, Hiro, and Tatsuki-sensei? I thought they were on your team?"

Everyone but Sasuke and Sakura froze at the names as the Hokage, Iruka, and Kakashi glanced over Naruto who was still in a bowing position. They watched the blonde warily as he rose up from his bow and much to everyone's surprise had a huge smile on his face.

"Oh, they're off on a special mission, Lady Daimyo. You know how it is with all this shinobi stuff. I'm temporarily assigned to this team for the time being." Naruto smiled at the Daimyo's wife as a reassured look appeared on her face.

"Oh, silly me. Of course. I always forget how these things go. How nice of you to help out this nice, young ladies and their strange sensei. Well, say hi for me when they come back and try not to wear so much black. I like it more when you wore orange." she stated before smiling at Naruto once more time and left the room. It was dead silent for a few moments before Sakura broke the ice and asked the question both girls were thinking.

"Uh...Naruto...san? Who are those people that Lady Daimyo mentioned?" she asked the obvious question before Naruto turned to her with the smile still on his face.

"Nobody important." Naruto answered in the strangest tone that either Sasuke or Sakura ever heard before disappearing in a swirl of leaves once more.

Sasuke sighed as she face palmed herself at Sakura's idiocy. "You had to ask, didn't you? Now how are we supposed to get another mission?"

"Well, I didn't mean to upset him. I just wanted to know who they were and he was smiling. I thought he was okay." Sakura replied before it hit her. "Oh, he was smiling. He never smiles."

"Idiot." Sasuke scoffed at the sheer stupidity of her teammate. She may hate the blonde, but after what they found out at the test two weeks ago. Well, even she wouldn't go there and ask him that question. It was obvious who they were to the Uchiha and the reaction of their sensei and the Hokage said the rest. Not that she cared to know anything about him anyways.

"Well, it looks like we're done for the today. So we'll meet up tomorrow at nine in the..." Kakashi stated before he was interrupted by the leader of Konoha with a loud cough.

"Actually, Kakashi. I have a favor to ask of you and your team." Sarutobi pointed out before shuffling a few mission scrolls around and picked out one purposely for them. "There is a mission I would like for your team to undertake since they have been most excellent with the amount of D rank missions that they have accomplished lately. I feel like they are ready to take a C rank mission."

"What? A C rank mission?" Sakura exclaimed in shock. C ranks were meant for experienced Genin and Chunnin and they were barely out of the academy! "Are you sure, Hokage-sama? I mean, do you think we're really ready for one?"

"I have to agree, Hokage-sama. It may be a bit soon to undertake a C rank for my team." Kakashi argued, knowing the real reason why the Hokage was recommending this kind of mission. "They're still fresh."

"I believe you're wrong, Kakashi. In the last two weeks, they have completed more D rank missions than most Genin teams do in two months. Not to mention the high praise from the clients who requested those missions." Sarutobi pointed out as he lit the tobacco in his pipe. "Also, it's a waste for an experience shinobi like Naruto to go back to doing D rank jobs."

"Hokage-sama! I have to protest! It's too soon! Not just for Sasuke and Sakura, but for Naruto as well. He's not ready and..." Iruka tried to convince the Hokage, but a quick shake of his head shut the teacher up instantly.

"It has been over six months already, Iruka. It's time." he whispered softly to the worried teacher as Iruka sighed in defeat. He wrote down some information before handing the paper and scroll over to Kakashi.

"Here's the mission details. The client is already here in Konoha, but he was expecting to be assigned a team tomorrow. Please stop by first thing in the morning to meet him here and be ready for at least a few days travel." Iruka informed the relucant Jounin, the worry evident in his eye about the true meaning behind the mission.

"I see. A simple escort mission to the Land of Waves, huh? Pretty basic." Kakashi stated out loud to his students, secretly relieved at the level of the C rank. It was the lowest level a C rank mission could possibly be, only being a C ranked because they would be leaving the village. With simple protection against bandits and thieves. "This would be a good learning experience for you girls. Naruto as well."

Sasuke stayed quiet the whole time, trying her best to hide her excitement. It was about time she got to see some real action. Maybe they might even run into some enemy shinobi as well? After two weeks of D rank missions and training exercises, she was getting edgy and antsy with boredom. She still had to hate the fact that Naruto was pretty much the reason why they were getting the mission in the first place. It was because of him they did so many missions to begin with.

He was a machine, almost never stopping to take a break and somehow always seemed to be in two places at once. Plus with him being a seasoned Genin, they were getting a C rank mission?

Eh, she could live with it. Didn't mean she was going to stop hating the guy.

"Sounds good to me. I'll be ready." Sasuke stated with a small smirk on her face. Sakura slouched over in defeat, knowing she was about to go on a mission outside the very walls of her very safe home.

"Sounds...good to me too, Sasuke-chan. Can't...wait." Sakura forced a smile on her face as Kakashi nodded and informed the two to meet up at eight in the morning in front of the gates.

"Wait, who is going to tell Naruto?" Sakura asked as they walked out of the office and into the long, curved hallway.

"Well, I would be happy to find him and give him the...good news, but **_IhavesomeporntoreadbackhomeSOoneofyougoandfindNarutoandtellhimokay_**?" Kakashi quickly rushed out of the building in a puff of smoke, much to their chargin. The two female members of Team Seven looked at each other before holding out their hands in a fist.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!"

Sasuke's shoulders fell in despair as her rock was beaten by Sakura's paper as the pink haired girl cheered in victory. Elated at the fact she didn't have to find the brooding boy and upset him again.

"Sorry, Sasuke. You may be my idol, but even I wouldn't do this for you. Later!" Sakura shouted as she ran out of the building in a blur of pink and red.

"Damn it! Damn that lazy pervert. Why do I have to go find the Dobe? I don't even like the blonde. Where do I even begin to look for him?" Sasuke cursed her teacher before wondering how to find her male teammate in the huge village. She didn't know where he lived or where he liked to eat or anything like that. She never bothered to ask anything about Naruto and didn't want to know.

"Sasuke-chan, you still here?" Sasuke turned around to see the old Hokage standing behind her with a warm smile on his face. I thought you would be heading home by now to rest up for your mission tomorrow."

"Hokage-sama! No, I was just heading out. I actually need to find the Dob...I mean, Naruto and inform him of the mission details. I sort of got the short straw." Sasuke replied with a rare moment of shyness. She may be withdrawn and quiet most of the time. But with the Hokage, she had always been a little more open and girl like.

"Ah, yes. Uzumaki Naruto. He's a hard child to find, especially when he doesn't want to be found and after what happened earlier...he might not want to be." Sarutobi mused as he took another puff of his pipe and adjusted his Kage hat.

Sasuke bit her lower lip lightly, not wanting to ask the question. But she couldn't help herself and her curiosity. "Were those people who Lady Daimyo mentioned...Naruto's old team?"

Sarutobi grimaced before tipping his hat low and nodded. "Yes. They were. Tanaka Asami, Kurosaki Hiro, and Sato Tatsuki. Together with Naruto, they made the old Team Seven before you, Haruno Sakura, and Hatake Kakashi."

"What...what happened to them?" Sasuke regretted her question before she asked it as the Hokage shook his head at her.

"It's not my place to say. They may have been my shinobi, but they were Naruto's surrogate family. It's his past and only he could speak about it if he wanted to, but he never does. Sasuke, I can tell you two aren't the best of friends, but you are teammates. He may have changed on the outside, but I like to believe he is the same old knuckle head on the inside. You could help him." Sarutobi explained as they walked slowly down the long hall.

"Why me? Why not Sakura or Kakashi-sensei?"

"Because you may not see it, but you two are the same in many ways. Not just the outside, but the inside as well. You could help each other, in fact." he pointed out as they reached the doorway and though to himself out loud. "Well, here we are. Let's see, it's not dinner time yet so no ramen. That would mean he is most likely on top of the Hokage Mountain right now watching the sunset. You can make it if you leave now."

Sasuke nodded as she thanked the Hokage for the talk and the advice before leaving the tower quietly. She had a lot to take in about a guy she thought she hated. She could remember how he was before he graduated, all happy and go lucky. It was hard to believe that Naruto and this Naruto were the same person. Maybe...they were the same too. Maybe they could...help each other? After a breif moment of weakness, Sasuke quickly shook her head and ran quickly before jumping on top of the roof of a different building.

Why she should help him? She didn't want to be helped. All she wanted was power and to kill her brother. Naruto had his own issues to deal with and they didn't concern her. Why she should care about some loser? They were teammates and that was it. He was just a step to her rise of power and that was it. All she needed to do now was to find the blonde and tell him about the mission. She let him invade her thoughts too much lately and that interfered with the ones set on getting stronger and seeking revenge.

She didn't care anymore about who was Uzumaki Naruto. Not one bit.

* * *

Almost twenty minutes later, she finally made her way up the mountain that was carved in the shaped of the four Hokages of Konoha. The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. The Third and the current Hokage, Sarutobi Sasuke whom she was named after. Her father hoping for a boy and instead had gotten a girl. Then there was the Fourth Hokage. Namikaze Minato who died young, saving the village twelve years ago from the Kyuubi attack.

She trekked her way up the rocky path, nearly out of breath from the quick run up the tall mountain. Her eyes squinted through the glare of the sunset before she made out a figure sitting on the head of the Fourth Hokage. Sasuke walked closer as the figure grew bigger and bigger until she finally see that the figure was Naruto sitting on the ground with his black hoodie laying next to him. She sighed in relief, finally able to tell her teammate about the mission and head home.

"Naruto!" she called out to him, but she got no response from the blonde as her sigh of relief turned into one of annoyance.

"Dobe! I know you can hear me! Turn around!" Sasuke shouted once more, frustrated as she walked closer to him. "Hey, loser!"

"What do you want, Sasuke?" Naruto asked calmly, still facing the sunset as Sasuke huffed with her hands in her hips.

"Well, you can turn around and face me for starters. A little respect for me." the female Uchiha scolded as her eyes made their way down from the back of his head to his revealing muscles along his shoulders and arms, made aware by his near nude fish net shirt. She had to admit, he was in very good shape for a young teen as she stared for a few moments before averting her eyes away.

"Well, then. I guess I have no respect for you. So say what you need to say and leave." the blonde stated coldly as Sasuke shook in anger at his attitude and shouted furiously at the back of his head.

"Fine! Whatever! We have a mission tomorrow okay?! So, be at the gates at eight!"

This time, Naruto did turn around as he looked up at the red face of Sasuke with a confused look in his eyes. "Why the gates? What kind of D rank is it?"

"It's not!" Sasuke shouted before taking a deep breath and tried to speak calmly. "It's a C rank. We're supposed to escort this guy to the Land of Waves and..."

"What did you say?" Naruto whispered.

Her words got caught in her throat as a look of anger appeared in his eyes and whipped his head back forward toward the empty sky. "Get the hell out of here, Uchiha!"

"What?" Sasuke asked warily.

"Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here!" Naruto growled as a burst of wind appeared out of nowhere, making Sasuke nearly fall back on her ass.

"Why the hell are you angry at me? The Hokage was the one to assign the mission to us! He said we were ready and that you were ready." Sasuke got her nerve back as she yelled at the mad blonde boy. "Damn, you fucking loser! I should be thanking you, not yelling at you! But you just keep pushing my buttons! I don't want to know you, I don't want to care about your problems! I just wanted to get fucking stronger and kill my brother!"

...

...

...

Dead silence filled the air as Sasuke clapped her hand over her mouth in shock. She couldn't believe she just said that. She's never said that out loud. Not that way. Especially not to the boy she's hated the last two weeks. She didn't know what to say or do, she just needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible and pretend that nothing happened here and...

"The old man was the one that requested the mission, not Hatake or one of you?" Naruto broke the silence, surprising Sasuke with his soothing voice breaking her panic.

"No. It was the Hokage. I mean, I wanted one but I didn't say anything about it. Kakashi actually fought against it and the mere thought of it scared the shit out of Sakura." Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the statement. She was surprised to hear Naruto chuckle as he shook his head, his eyes never leaving the sunset.

"Well, I suppose then I have no choice." Naruto mused as he reached down at his side and grabbed his jacket. "I guess we're going on a C rank mission tomorrow."

Naruto sat up and slipped on his jacket as he and Sasuke finally took a good look at each other during this whole conversation. He noticed how disheveled she looked from climbing the mountain to find him. The female Uchiha's ample chest as it rose up and down quickly from shouting at him. Her slightly messed up hair that looked extra blue in the glow of the setting sun and her pale, flawless skin that never seemed to tan under the blazing sun.

For the first time since they had started together, Naruto noticed...that Sasuke was actually a **_girl_**.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Naruto stated with a wave as he started to walk away. Sasuke stood there, surprised at the fact they stared at each other for more than a few seconds. They never really looked at each other too much and Sasuke got a true, good look into Naruto's tired eyes and whiskered cheeks.

Now...now she was curious and she didn't want to be. She didn't want to know anything about him. She didn't want to ask him anything about his past or his old team, but she wanted to ask..._**something** _to calm her curiosity down.

"How did you graduate?" Sasuke blurted out of nowhere, freezing Naruto in mid step on the path down. He sighed as he took a moment to think about before turning his head back slightly at Sasuke who looked uncomfortable about asking a question.

...

"Do you remember Mizuki-sensei from the academy?" he looked at Sasuke for a response as she nodded at his question.

"He was a teacher a couple of years ago. But suddenly one day, he wasn't there anymore."

"Well, it's a long walk down and it's a long story so...follow me if you want because I'm going to talk about it out loud." Naruto stated before he started back down the trail, not waiting for Sasuke to make up her mind. She honestly didn't know if she truly wanted to know anything about Naruto.

"So, two years ago I failed my first exam. Then, when I was alone and depressed on the swing in front of the school, Mizuki-sensei came up to me with a special, secret option to graduate. All I had to do was take a certain test and steal something..." Naruto started to talk as Sasuke stood there and watched his form slowly getting smaller.

...

...

...

"Damn it." Sasuke whispered to herself as she quickly made her down the path and caught up to the blonde Genin before slowing down and walked beside him. She sighed and slipped her hands into her pockets as she listened to what she would always remember as the story that started it all for him... and for her.

The day Naruto learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu and become a Genin at the tender age of ten.


	4. The attack

**A Reason To Live**

_M/F, Naruto/FemSasuke. _

_Rated T to M in the future. _

_The chapter's a day late. I didn't mean to. I was hungover all Monday and couldn't beta my story. Look for two more updates this week like last week._

**Chapter 4.**

* * *

_The Gates of Konoha. 8am._

* * *

It was the next day and so far, things weren't going the way that Naruto had hoped. Actually the only thing he had hoped for was the two Genin he was assigned to join would fail so he didn't have to be on a new team. He had nothing against them. Well, not at first, seeing how he seemed to always make the Uchiha girl angry with everything he did or say.

For some reason, he managed to twist her panties in a wad every time she sees him and not in the good way. He didn't like her either, but he didn't let that get to him.

Now he had to deal with this mission that brought up demons he tried very hard to push down with the actual demon inside him. Not to mention dealing with the drunk client staggering in front of them at the moment.

"This is it? This is my protection I paid for? Two little girls and a boy who looks like he needs a month's worth of sleep?" Tazuna, the new client of Team Seven complained as he looked over all three Genin. The old bridge builder turned to Kakashi with a look of disbelief. "Seriously?"

"I can reassure you, Tazuna-san. My team is more than capable of guarding you on your journey home. Not to mention, I'm a Jounin and a very good one to be honest." Kakashi explained to Tazuna as the drunk huffed and crossed his arms.

"Fine then. I expect all of you to give your lives if necessary to protect me on my trip home. Let's go." Tazuna led the way as Kakashi sighed and signaled the gate guards of their departure to the Land of Waves. The Chunnin on duty nodded as Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto followed behind.

"Did you just say that we're little girls?" Sakura fumed, whispering to Sasuke in a low voice. "He did, didn't he?"

"Hmm." Sasuke agreed, not fond of their new client who smelt like he drank sake for breakfast. "He did, the fucking drunk."

"I sleep just fine." Naruto threw in as he squinted at the back of the bridge builder, joining in on the conversation much to Sakura's surprise. "Just not all night."

"Why?" she had to ask, taking advantage of the fact that her blonde teammate was actually speaking to them.

"I'm up at three in the morning to start training. Less people around except for shinobi on duty and restaurant owners. I like to train alone." Naruto stated absentminded as they continued to walked down the road out of Konoha and through its massive forests.

"I know what you mean." Sasuke agreed, again much to the surprise of Sakura who glanced back and forth between her teammates on either side of her. She wondered when her team got on speaking terms with each other.

"Yeah, being alone is great...Kakashi sensei, can I ask you something?" Sakura turned her attention to the teacher ahead of them as he turned his head back toward her.

"Of course."

"Why didn't Tazuna-san request a shinobi from his country to escort him?" Sakura asked with Sasuke and Naruto curious about the answer as well.

"You see, not every country has a hidden village. It's very expensive to build and maintain one so smaller countries like Wave hire shinobi from bigger or more well establish countries with hidden villages." Kakashi explained as Tazuna nodded at the explanation.

"Yes, he's right. My country is poor and underfunded in many ways. I'm a bridge builder and heading up a huge project that can change all that. A massive bridge that connects my country to the mainland, thus providing much needed commerce and trade. " he stated in a proud manner, changing the opinion that Team Seven originally had come up with in the beginning.

"That's really cool." Sakura replied. "So that's why you were in Konoha, for your bridge?"

"Yes, I was here on business. Now I need to head back home and you never know, so I hired some protection. I was hoping for a couple of Chunnin, but instead I got the lot of you."

"And there goes that nice feeling I had." Sakura threw out as she joined her teammates back in formation.

"Hmm." Sasuke mused, glancing over at Naruto every once in a while. He was just staring ahead, being quiet once again as he kept pace with the group as they made their way to the Land of Waves.

Silence soon came over the traveling group as hours went by, only stopping once to take a quick break for water and a snack before heading back on the road. Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven sighed at the leisurely speed of their trip. Normally, shinobi traveled quickly through the trees to get to a destination. But when escorting a civilian, things usually went at more at the client's pace.

Sasuke was bored to death. She would kill for some action on this trip, even a road bandit at this point. A chance to grow stronger with experience.

Sakura was more or less okay, silently hoping that nothing would happen on their mission. Not even a road bandit to worry about so she wouldn't get hurt.

Kakashi learned a long time ago how to tune the boredom out, only running on instinct as he read his book while walking. Only a whistle to let everyone know he was alive and not a zombie.

But while everyone else was bored, scared, or half dead; Naruto was on full alert as they walked by a random rain puddle. He kept his eyes straight ahead, slowly walking and making his way in between the two girls. He was tense as his senses flared up while trying to hold down his fury about what was going to happen in mere moments.

Before anyone else noticed, two cloaked figures emerged from the fake puddle of water as one of them was launched by the other. The flying figure spun in mid air as a spiked, shuriken chain that connected the two of them together between their gauntlets wrapped itself around the Jounin sensei. Kakashi's eye went wide as his whole body was bound by the jagged chain connecting the two mysterious figures on either side of him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed as she watched the two men trapped her sensei along with her teammates and Tazuna. They wore Hitai-ate with horns sticking out, symbolizing that they were from the Hidden Mist village and wore gas masks to conceal their faces.

"One down, Meizu..." the shinobi wearing a full body cloak stated to the other shinobi known as Meizu before he started to pull.

"...and four to go, Gozu." Meizu finished in a dark tone. The camouflage covered shinobi pulled as well, tearing the Konoha Jounin apart as the chain ripped right through him.

The rest of the group watched in horror as Kakashi was torn to pieces in front of them. The two Mist shinobi laughed darkly as they quickly turned their attention towards the rest of Team Seven and rushed at them with their gauntlets poised to attack. Their eyes focused in on the three Genin left guarding the bridge builder. Gozu and Meizu watched as fear over took the pink haired girl and the old man and a look of prepared determination appeared on the dark haired girl's face. But it was the blonde's reaction that made the Demon Brothers briefly flinch in hesitation.

Pure hatred.

That one second of hesitation was all it took for the said Genin before the Demon Brothers saw something zoom right between them and stopped the Chunnin dead in their tracks. Gozu and Meizu turned back to see a silver sai with a black handle stabbed through one of the loops in their chain and deep into a large tree behind them. Their gauntlets and shuriken chain were held in place by the long sai and before they could react to that fact, Naruto appeared on top of the two gauntlets in a burst of speed.

Everything happened in slow motion to Sakura and Sasuke as they watched Naruto pin down the two Chunnin with ease before jumping on top of their gauntlets. He was hunched over as he stood on top of the metal claws, a shadow covering the top half of his face before he spun off the gauntlets and drove a foot into each shinobi's face. Gozu and Meizu grunted in pain as they were thrown off balance by the two strong kicks. But they countered just as fast as they released the chains from their gauntlets and charged at Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna.

"My turn!" Sasuke grinned in excitement, finally able to get into the fight and test herself as she got ready to attack the charging Gozu and Meizu. Her grin disappeared though as she watched Meizu passed her by and went towards Sakura who was guarding a scared Tazuna. Sasuke bit her lip in frustration, unable to figure out what she needed to do in a matter of moments. But before she could decide, her blonde teammate had made his choice.

The forgotten chain that Meizu and Gozu left behind was quickly wrapped around Meizu's neck as his eyes widened in shock. He screamed out in pain as the sharp spike dug into his soft neck, turning around to see Naruto with the shuriken chain in his bloody hands. Naruto pulled hard as Meizu went flying once more, but not by choice as he flew in mid air and right into a high kick from the blonde.

The Mist shinobi's neck snapped in a loud, crunching noise before Gozu stopped his charge at Sasuke and turned towards his dead brother. Naruto held up the bloody chain holding up the broken neck of Meizu and grinned darkly at the other brother. Gozu screamed as he watched his brother died right in front of him and dangled like a prize by the blonde. "MEIZU! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU'RE DEAD!"

Gozu quickly turned back towards the blonde and charged with his claw ready to tear the blonde Genin apart. Naruto just stood there, open to attack much to Sasuke's worry as the Uchiha girl rushed after the Mist shinobi. But before she could do anything to save the boy she hated with a passion, he disappeared and reappeared behind the last Demon Brother and stabbed a sai right into his back.

"Arrgghh!" Gozu cried out as he fell to the ground, still alive but unable to stand up or walk. He tried to lift himself up off the ground, only to have his unprotected hand crushed by Naruto's foot slamming down onto it. He screamed out in pain as the blonde tortured him right in front of Sasuke and Sakura before he reached down and roughly grabbed Gozu's black hair. Naruto pulled his head up and knelt down before whispering furiously into the Mist shinobi's ear.

"Who is it? WHO ARE YOU AFTER? Was it Kakashi? Was it ME? OR...was it him?" Naruto's eyes went straight to Tazuna who was shaking in fear at the sight before him. "Who are you after? Speak!"

"Fuck...you. That's...who." Gozu spat out, his breathing ragged before he cried out in pain again as Naruto twisted the sai in his back. "ARRGGHHH!"

"Naruto! Stop! Please!" Sakura shouted, tears welling up in her eyes at her nakama with blood lust in his eyes.

"No! He tried to kill us, Sakura. This is the shinobi life, take a good look at it!" Naruto shouted back, lifting Gozu's head higher so she could see his face. "He tried to kill you!"

"Naruto, that's enough. It's done." Sasuke spoke in between them, trying to diffuse the situation, unlike what she normally did. She could see how angry Naruto was getting, similar to what she saw last night when she told him about the mission. Was this why he got so angry? Did he hate enemy shinobi attacking his team?

"No, it isn't. I need to make sure. I need to know why they attacked!" Naruto growled. "Isn't that right, Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna watched in shock as Kakashi walked out from the cover of the large trees, unharmed from the attack. Gozu most shocked of all, glancing over to where they torn the Jounin apart, only to see a pile of logs in his place. "You...you escaped with such a simple jutsu? How...did we...miss it?"

"Never mind that. Naruto is right. Was this a simple attack against shinobi or something more? Tazuna-san?" Kakashi agreed as everyone looked over at the shaking Tazuna who looked ashamed and nodded.

"Yes, Naruto is right. I...I could only afford a C rank mission. Like I said, my village is poor. There are certain people who want to keep it that way and would do anything to keep the bridge from being built. So, I figured they might send someone to kill me because without me..."

"The bridge won't be built." Sasuke finished as Tazuna nodded. "So you would risk our lives because you can't pay for a B rank or higher?"

"I really didn't think they would send people like those two! I would never..." Tazuna retorted, but he knew he had no ground to stand on.

"Sasuke is right. This is easily a B rank or higher. The next ones sent would most likely be even stronger than these two. They are the Demon Brothers from the Hidden Mist village, specialized in relentless, coordinated attacking. We should back off from here and go back." Kakashi mused before looking toward's his blonde student who still had the last Demon brother pinned to the ground. "Naruto, get him up so we can tie him to a tree for the ANBU to retrieve."

Naruto showed no sign that he heard his teacher as he twisted his sai some more, causing Gozu to scream in pain again. "Who else is there? Who will be next to come after us?"

"ARRGGHH! Please stop! Please! I don't know!" Gozu cried out, not revealing what Naruto wanted to know. "Please! Give me a break!"

A dark smile appeared on his face, causing Kakashi's eye to widened in realization. "Naruto, don't!"

"Okay." Naruto grinned before gripping the shinobi's head with his bloody hands and snapped his neck like he did his brother's. "Enjoy it."

Sakura gasped as Sasuke's face contorted into a look of shock. They both knew the blonde was strong and merciless , but to do what he just did...that was on another level. Sasuke could feel the rush of adrenaline in her body, her growing breasts rising up and down from her panting chest. She knew it was wrong to do what Naruto just did, disobeying orders. She knew it was wrong to kill in cold blood when the enemy was already down. She knew it was wrong to enjoy it like Naruto did, obviously. But how he did it, how he looked when he did it somehow just made her feel so...so...so...

**_Attracted_ **to him.

But before anyone could say anything to Naruto about what he did, he pulled out his sai from the dead shinobi's back and rushed over to Tazuna. Naruto quickly grabbed the bridge builder's neck roughly and bent him over backwards over his knee, Tazuna's choking face being held up at the blue sky. The blonde had a tight grip around his windpipe as he spun his bloody sai around in his hand and held the pointed end right above Tazuna's face. Just as quick, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto and grabbed both his arm that held the sharp weapon and the one that held Tazuna's neck.

"Naruto, stop it right now!" Kakashi held the arms tightly, not wanting Naruto to act brashly again. "It's over!"

"No! It's not! He did this on purpose, knowing he had someone after him! They are just Genin, Kakashi-sensei! Genin! They can't handle high ranked shinobi who want to kill them! Especially if they weren't expecting to defend against such monsters!" Naruto yelled, his grip on Tazuna's windpipe growing tighter. "People like him deserve to die! People like him are the reason Hiro died so horribly! People like him are the reason why Asami will never see her parents again!"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he shut his eyes tight, tears fighting to escape down his cheeks. "People like him...are the reason I lost Tatsuki-sensei. My Tatsuki, my mother...or she wanted to be. I lost all of THEM! Because. Of. People. Like. Him!"

Sasuke and Sakura were stunned as they listened to Naruto's confession, watching as the blonde broke down in front of them. Naruto opened his wet eyes to see a crying Tazuna looking up at him. "People like you took the only family I knew. Because the client lied about the mission and didn't let us know about the dangerous team of shinobi after his life. Because he was so cheap, he died along with them and then...then I was alone. All alone in the bloody mess that was once my family."

Silence lingered in the air as Naruto continued to hold Tazuna in the killing position with Kakashi holding him back from committing the sin. Sweat dripped down Naruto's face as he sighed and let go of Tazuna's neck before letting him fall to the ground. Kakashi sighed as well as he let go of his student, only for him to fall over backwards, letting go of his sai that once belong to his beloved Tatsuki-sensei.

"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura called out as they rushed to their teammate's side, the blonde passing out before hitting the ground. Sasuke pulled Naruto's head into her lap as Sakura lifted up one of his half gloved hands, the blood slowly oozing out from the wounds in his palm. Sakura looked closely before sniffing the blood and called out to her sensei in worry.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think those weapons were laced with poison!" Sakura stated as Kakashi looked over at his student as he helped Tazuna to his feet.

"Then it should have been in liquid form which is a good thing. We need to increase the blood flow in his hands to drain the poison from his wounds. He should be fine after that with some rest." Kakashi answered before looking back over to the client. "You need to do some explaining, Tazuna-san. We shouldn't even be on this kind of mission and now I have an injured student."

"We should head back, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura pointed out. "This is over our heads!"

"No..." a weak voice could be heard from Sasuke's lap as Naruto slowly rose up from the soft place. "We need...to go on."

Naruto grimaced as he grabbed his sai and stabbed one of his hands and drained the poison out of his system. "Sasuke, help me with the other...please."

Sasuke could only nodded slowly as she took the weapon from his hand and reluctantly stabbed Naruto's other hand. The blood flowing out even more as the poison left the wound much to Sakura's worry. "Naruto, we should leave. You are..."

"Fine. I'm fine. I just need to rest a minute and wrap my hands." Naruto tried to grab a roll of bandages in his backpack, only for Sakura to stop him and looked up in her green eyes.

"Geez, you are stubborn. You are just gonna hurt yourself more." the pink haired girl pointed out as she pulled out a roll of her own and began to wrap his hands.

Kakashi and Tazuna watched as Naruto leaned back into Sasuke's lap, a blush evident on her face as Sakura wrapped his hands tight in a motherly way to ensure they wouldn't bleed anymore. He sighed as he looked over to Tazuna and rubbed his chin. "I guess we will be going on this mission, Tazuna-san. But you need to be upfront about everything from here on out, got it? Or I swear, I will pull the plug on this mission."

"Yes, yes. Thank you so much. My daughter and grandson will forever be grateful including the people from my village. I'll carry the boy myself until we camp for the night." Tazuna replied gratefully before walking towards the trio and offered his hand, only for Sasuke, of all people to knock it away.

"No. I'll help him. He's my...teammate." Sasuke whispered as she helped Naruto to his feet and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder. Sakura nodded too as she took the other arm and slipped under it.

"Me too. We're a team." Sakura agreed as they started to walk down the path with Kakashi watching proudly at the sight. He turned away for a moment to summon one of his fastest nin-hounds and quickly wrote out a message for the Hokage. The dog nodded at his mission before taking off in a burst of speed as Kakashi stood up and looked over at the client rubbing his hurt hand.

"You should join them. I need to take care of this mess and it won't be pretty. I'll only be a minute." Kakashi instructed Tazuna as he nodded and followed the team down the path. Naruto reluctantly let the two girls help him walk for a while until he could do it on his own. The memories of the past year came flooding back that he tried to hold back this whole time.

"We'll camp soon, Naruto. The sun's going down in a while and then we'll stop for the night." Sakura reassured the blonde as he nodded slightly, busy with trying to block out his memories. Sasuke couldn't help, but feel for Naruto after listening to his confession and now was even more curious about his past. What had happened to his team? How could a C rank go so wrong twice in his short life?

Soon, Kakashi caught up with the foursome and stated they should stop for the night since it would be another day's travel to reach the ocean and take a boat to the Land of Waves. In a matter of minutes, camp was set up with Sakura setting up the sleeping bags and Sasuke making the fire while Kakashi secured their location for the night. Tazuna just sat there on a stray log and watched the team work while Naruto rested against a massive stone with his eyes closed. The old man wanted to say something to him, but words failed him as he kept hearing the boy's words replay in his head over and over.

_'People like you took the only family I knew.'_

"Boy...Naruto, I'm sorry about what happened today. I truly didn't know they would send such animals after me." he confessed as the blonde continued to rest against the large rock.

"I mean, if I knew I would've..."

"Done the same. You would have done the same, Tazuna-san. That's the kind of person you are." Naruto softly interrupted as Sasuke and Sakura listened on, expecting another insult towards the bridge builder. Only to be surprised by the blonde's words. "A good man who wants to save his village. To bring his people out of poverty. That's why I insisted on continuing this mission. For my team and not just this one. Tatsuki-sensei, Asami, Hiro...they would be ashamed if they knew I backed away from this mission."

"I don't mean to pry, but what happened to them exactly?" Tazuna asked much to Sasuke, Sakura, and the now arriving Kakashi's extreme worry. They knew Naruto never talked about what happened to his old team and after what happened earlier...they were very nervous on how he would react to the question.

"Do you really want to know, Tazuna-san? It's not a story with a happy ending." Naruto warned with a sad smile as everyone there grew curious about what happened. Sasuke was shocked as well as Sakura since Naruto never mentioned it at all. The old man nodded warily, curiosity overcame his good sense as everyone else took a seat around the fire as Naruto scooted up and leaned back against the stone. His blue eyes stared into the flames as the tragic memory of that day came back to him in a rush of powerful emotions.

"It was...just another normal day."


	5. The past

**A Reason To Live**

_M/F, Naruto/FemSasuke. _

_Rated T to M in the future. _

_Sorry if some of you guest reviewers haven't seen your reviews. I'm new at this and didn't know I had to moderate guest reviews so they can show up. And here I thought I was a terrible writer because lack of reviews. Now I know. Plus I appreciate all reviews, flames and all. I'm not a douche who would delete reviews because I don't like them. We all have things we like and don't like. I like reviews._

**Chapter 5.**

* * *

_Six months ago..._

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto! You get your ass up this instance or I swear, I'll tell Ayame never to serve you ramen again!"

"I'm up! I'm up! Shit, Asami! Can't a guy get his normal twelve hours of sleep every night without some redhead shouting bloody murder at him? Seriously? Threatening my ramen?"

Naruto groaned as he walked slowly to his door with his bathrobe hanging off his body with only a pair of boxers and a undershirt underneath. The pounding of the door grew louder as Naruto finally unlocked and swung open the door, revealing a tall, red haired, tanned girl standing in his doorway. She wore her hair in a short bob and had thick black eyeliner beautifully designed underneath her eyes. Her outfit consisted of a short, black skirt, long, black boots and a black fishnet top that was covered only by a dark red, sleeveless shirt with no collar that stopped just under her supple breasts.

Asami. Her name was Tanaka Asami and she was the most beautiful thing Naruto had ever seen. The best part of all, he got see her every single day since they became a part of Team Seven.

"Asami-chan, you look stunning toda...ARGGHH!" Naruto flew back as a black boot kicked him square in the face.

"You're late! Again!" Asami growled, walking into the blonde's apartment and curled her nose at the mess of empty ramen cups littered around the room. "Don't you ever clean?"

"Eh, why clean the place when it'll just get dirty again." Naruto answered from behind his hand as he rubbed his nose from the impact of the redhead's black heel. "Shit, Asami. Can't you take it easier on your boyfriend?"

Asami's angry face disappeared as a grin grew across her lips and knelt down in front of the blonde. She pulled his hand away from his face gently before leaning in for a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Nope. Gotta keep reminding you who wears the pants in this relationship, fox boy." her tongue stuck out playfully before helping her boyfriend up to his feet. "Now, then. Get dressed and let's get going. Hiro and Tatsuki-sensei are waiting for us at the bridge."

Naruto chuckled lightly at Asami's ever changing personality before pulling her close into his arms and drew her face close to his.

"Oh, I think they can wait a few more minutes." Asami giggled at Naruto's antics as he flicked his hand and shut the door with a burst of wind. "Just a few."

* * *

"Oh, man. You two finally did it, didn't you? I knew it was going to happen eventually! God, you two are barely into your teens and Asami! You're two years older than Naruto! Cradle robber!"

Asami and Naruto blushed as the third member of their team, Hiro shouted perverted nonsense at the top of his lungs. His wavy, black hair tossed around as he jumped on top one of the bridge's rails and pointed drastically at the two blushing teens.

"Premarriage SEEEEEXXXX!" Hiro accused before a black heeled boot side kicked him off the rail and landed flat on his back.

"You perv! We didn't do no such thing! Why do you always say that, Kurosaki Hiro! Just because you read that orange trash, doesn't mean that's how relationships work!" Asami scolded the boy as he rolled around the bridge, holding his face in pain.

"Hey, what's wrong with orange?" Naruto pouted, looking down at his sleeveless orange hoodie with the black hood. Like Asami, he also wore a black fish net shirt underneath and finished the outfit with a pair of baggy, orange shorts that stopped a few inches below his knees.

"Oh, nothing sweetie. It's the book I don't like, not the color. You look great in orange." Asami reassured the blonde as they watched Hiro pick himself off the wooden floor of the bridge. He dusted his clothes off, a dark green, high collared shirt with short sleeves and black pants before throwing Asami a dirty look.

"_**Oh, nothing sweetie.**_ Good grief, you two turn my stomach." Hiro mocked, scratching his chin through the black mask covered the lower half of his face. "Having teenage sex all the time and the PDA."

"I told you, we didn't have sex! We're waiting until we're older, okay?" Asami fumed with a big head as Naruto sweatdropped, laughing nervously at the two frienemies arguing over nothing.

"I'm glad to hear that, Asami-chan. I wouldn't want to have to kill you for taking my Naruto-kun's virtue so young." a voice interrupted the arguing Genin as they all turned around to see the final member and the leader of Team Seven, Sado Tatsuki.

The female Jounin smiled evilly toward her surrogate son's girlfriend, much to her fear as the team watched her approach them on the bridge. She wore a typical Jounin outfit except instead of pants, she wore a blue skirt that was split on both sides that revealed bandages wrapped around her thighs. Her long, dark blue hair hung in two bangs over her Hitai-ate and the rest was tied in a bun behind her head.

"Team Seven, are you ready for today?" Tatsuki-sensei stated with a big smile as Naruto moaned knowingly. Hiro and Asami laughed as they both patted the blonde on the back.

"Every year. Do we have to do this, Tatsuki-sensei?" Naruto groaned, knowing what was coming.

"Yes we do! Asami! Hiro! Let's do it!" Tatsuki shouted playfully, fist pumping into the air as Asami and Hiro cheered loudly and circled the reluctant blonde. All three of them pulled out scrolls and tossed them into the air before performing a set of hand seals that activated the seals inside the parchments. The scrolls glowed in bright, various colors before loud fireworks went off in random directions and confetti fell down everywhere.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Asami, Hiro, and Tatsuki-sensei cheered and danced around the embarrassed blonde as confetti rained down over them. Despite the embarrassment, Naruto couldn't help but smile at his team/family making a big deal about his birthday. He never had a birthday party or anyone to even celebrate the day with him. Only ever receiving a present from the Hokage and free ramen from the Ichiraku family. In fact, most people seemed to be sad or upset on his birthday and that was the one time a year that no one ever yelled at him.

He was simply ignored more than usual. As if he didn't exist to them or the world.

But when he graduated after taking down Mizuki-teme, he had not only gotten a team. He got a family that wanted to celebrate him. To celebrate his birthday and remind him that he did exist.

In the most embarrassing way possible, of course.

"You're twelve now. Naruto-kun! Congrats! You too, Asami-chan! Now you're not a cradle robber anymore, just a cougar." Tatsuki stated evilly as Asami blushed immensely.

"I just turned fourteen! Not forty! I'm only two years older than Naruto!" Asami slammed her forehead against her sensei's forehead as sparks flew between their eyes.

"Two years and three weeks, to be exact." Hiro pointed out with a raised finger before Naruto slapped him on the back of his head.

"Don't feed the fire, Kurosaki!"

"Hey, it's not my mother and girlfriend fighting over me." Hiro shrugged.

"You keep poking the bears, Hiro. You make it worse. Stop poking the bears." Naruto sighed before shoving himself between his arguing sensei and teammate. "Ladies, please. It's my birthday. I know I don't usually play this card, but I like for this day to be calm and fun."

Both females huffed and crossed their arms before turning away from each other. But they both let out a sigh of their own and turned back to their favorite blonde.

"Right, of course! Time for presents!" Tatsuki smiled as she motioned for her other two students to give their presents. Hiro was first as he pulled out a small bag and handed it to Naruto.

"Here you go, bro. Happy birthday." Hiro grinned as Naruto opened the bag and revealed a pair of black gloves that were missing the first two fingers. "Cool looking, huh? Plus, they repair themselves! They're made from plants fed by chakra. Just focus a little on the cloth and they fix themselves. No seamstress necessary."

"Really weird you know that, but they are super cool. Thanks, Hiro!" Naruto grinned back as he slipped on the gloves. Asami quickly shoved Hiro aside and presented her gift to her boyfriend with a wink.

"Here, fox boy. Unwrap me, I mean, my gift." Asami teased much to Tatsuki's annoyance. She gave Naruto a wrapped box to which he opened with gusto and pulled out a brand new black hoodie with long sleeves.

"I knew it. You do hate the orange." Naruto fake pouted as everyone laughed at Asami slapping her boyfriend playfully on his shoulders. "I mean, black gloves and a black jacket? You're all in it together!"

"Okay, okay. No more. My sides are going to split!" Tatsuki-sensei managed to say between loud laughs. "It's my turn. Happy birthday, Naruto-kun."

She handed him a small box that rattled loudly in Naruto's ear as he shook it. The blonde unwrapped the bow and opened the top to reveal a set of keys much to his confusion. "Keys? You bought me a house?"

"No, Naruto-kun." Tatsuki-sensei giggled into her hand before a light blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks. "They're keys...to _my_ house."

The realization hit both Asami and Hiro as big smiles appeared on their face while Naruto was still confused.

"What? Do I have to water your insane amount of plants and feed Yuki? I hate cats, you know that and..." then it just hit him. The box of keys shook in his hands as his eyes slowly rose from the gift to Tatsuki-sensei's smiling face.

"Does this mean...what I think it means?"

Tatsuki smiled nervously and nodded as she held out her hands and bit her lower lip. She didn't know that more than two years ago, she would fall in love with this boy like a mother meeting her child for the first time. She knew of him and knew exactly whose child he really was, but it wasn't until she became his teacher that she would come to love the boy as a son.

In a way, he was supposed to be if it weren't for his father falling for Kushina. At one point, she was madly in love with her blonde teammate and would do anything for him to notice her. But his heart always belonged to Naruto's future mother and left her behind. Tatsuki's eyes softened as tears slowly fell from Naruto's cheeks before he rushed to hug her.

"You want me to live with you?" he managed to mutter as they held each other tight. She nodded as tears threaten to fall from her own eyes.

"Yes, it's about damn time. I've been building up the guts to ask you. I didn't know if...if you wanted to. If you wanted for me to be your adopted mother of sorts." Tatsuki-sensei confessed emotionally.

Naruto just nodded, unable to say anything as Asami and Hiro watched on in silent happiness for their teammate and sensei. It was a perfect moment for their knucklehead, blonde, nakama and their equally crazy sensei. At first, they were both worried about being teamed up with the youngest member in their class and how wild he acted. But he had a habit of proving people wrong and that included the both of them. He and Hiro were best friends, almost like brothers and for Asami...

Well, she found the love of her life.

"Okay, okay. Congrats, it's a boy! No more of this emotional stuff, I'm getting the willies. Tatsuki-sensei, you had something to tell us." Hiro butted in as Tatsuki-sensei wiped her eyes and nodded in agreement.

"Right, Hiro. Of course." Tatsuki laughed as she and Naruto grinned at each other before her smile shrunk. "I'm sorry to say, but we have a mission today. I tried my best, but Hokage-sama asked for us in particular on this job."

"On Naruto-kun's birthday? Really?" Asami whined as Hiro nodded.

"That's cold, sensei."

"Guys, drop it. It's a mission and we're still shinobi, even on my birthday. I'm assuming because you're upset about it, Tatsuki-sensei that's a C rank?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, a simple escort mission. One day to escort the client to his caravan, stay the night and leave the next day. We'll be back by tomorrow night and then we can celebrate, okay! All the ramen you can eat!" Tatsuki regretted her statement as soon as she said it. The devious smile on her surrogate son's face said it all as Asami and Hiro shook their heads in pity.

"There goes the mission pay." Hiro sighed.

"It's fine...it's just money." the female Jounin's voice cracked a little. "So, go pack and meet me at the gate in two hours. But, remember. Just because it's a simple mission..."

"Always be prepared." all three Genin finished. They knew their sensei's teachings inside and out in addition to the rules of being a shinobi. Tatsuki smiled, knowing she taught her team well as she dismissed them from the meeting. Hiro waved goodbye as Asami kissed Naruto on the lips before leaving herself, but not before sticking her tongue out at the Jounin. Reminding her that she was the main woman in Naruto's life.

Naruto sighed as he watched his sensei stick her tongue back at his girlfriend before giving her a nervous look. "Are you sure you want me to live with you?"

"Naruto-kun, never question my choice again. Of course I do. After we get back and have your birthday dinner, we'll get started on moving your stuff to my place." Tatsuki stated as she ran her hand through Naruto's shaggy hair.

"And we'll get you a hair cut too. Seriously, how long do you want that hair to be?"

Naruto laughed as they walked off the bridge together, mother and son for the first time...

...and the last.

* * *

A trap.

It was a fucking trap.

There was blood and fire everywhere as Naruto struggled to get to his feet, pushing himself off the ground. His vision was blurry as he saw numerous trailers and caravans on fire from the massive explosions everywhere. They revealed the dead bodies of the missing travelers inside the burning, wooden vehicles that set up the trap to begin with.

"Asami! Hiro!" Naruto's voice hoarsely shouted as he managed to get to his knees and looked down at his bloody hands. The ground was bloody and covered in craters with multiple kunai spread out and stabbed everywhere. Fires roared through out the trees surrounded the rocky trail and the smell of burning bodies nearly made the blonde throw up in his mouth.

"Tatsuki-sensei!" Naruto shouted once more before looking ahead in the distance, seeing his teacher and girlfriend in a three on two fight with a trio of shinobi. They were both covered in blood splatters and burns as Naruto watched the two women in his life fight off all three of them with his teacher's weapons out. He knew this was serious if she was using both of her sais. Tatsuki-sensei never used both weapons unless she was fighting for her life or let one of her students fight along side her.

He needed to help them

Naruto managed to stand up before pulling out a kunai that was stuck in his shoulder in a splash of blood. He cried out in pain and looked around for Hiro so they could help Asami and Tatsuki-sensei. But he just saw the client laying a few feet away with numerous kunai stabbed all over him and burned halfway across his body. Naruto suddenly remembered what had happened now, before the explosions. They had arrived to the meeting spot of the client's where he was supposed to join his caravan and leave him to them.

But when they had arrived, something was off. The caravan was there, but the people were not.

None of the travelers or their traveling guards were outside the wooden trailers and all the Ox were just standing there, waiting for someone to unhitch them so they could move.

Something was definitely off. Their client looked around in worry and obviously nervous before he turned around and began to run away. Naruto remembered Tatsuki-sensei shouting after him, telling him not to leave the group before the caravans ahead of them blew up in huge, multiple explosions. Kunai shot out of the fire as all of them tried to defend themselves after being knocked off their feet by the shock waves.

Only for the ground below them to start blowing up in random spots as Hiro shouted something about landmines. He remembered hearing Asami screaming and a hand pulling him away from an explosion off to his side. After that, he had been thrown to the ground and was nearly unconscious as sounds of fighting rang in the air.

"HIRO!" Naruto shouted again over the loud noises and suddenly was stunned at the sight of a burning body behind him. The familiar green shirt stood out to him as he stumbled towards the body with tears in his eyes. "HIRO!"

There was almost nothing left of his friend. Pieces of Hiro were missing as one of his arms were gone along with a leg. His chest was blown away and so was half of his face from the explosions as Naruto stared at the smoking remains of his best friend. His gloved hands gripped the green shirt tightly before tear drops fell on the burning body in a sizzling sound.

"Hiro."

Rage started to boil inside of Naruto as the death of Hiro made his anger grow to the point where it began to push down his pain. The sounds of metal clinking against each other drew his attention as he whipped his head around at the battle between the attacking shinobi and what was left of his team. He was not going to lose any more family members.

In a blur of orange, Naruto rushed to the fighting shinobi and performed his signature Jutsu. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Multiple clones of Naruto jumped into the melee as two broke off to pull the obviosuly injured Tatsuki-sensei and Asami out of then fight. The others pulled out kunai and started to push back the trio of shinobi that had killed the client and Hiro.

"Naruto!" Asami called out as she watched the group of Naruto clones get cut down quick by the white haired leader of the group. The man grinned as he spun around with his large sword and sliced through the shadow clones.

"Oh, it's three on three now, huh? Look at that, Wabisuke. Another one survived your traps. You're getting lazy with your Jutsu."

The man known as Wabisuke stood back and watched his leader cut down the blonde's clone through his sunglasses before scoffing. "It was luck, Ryuusuke and besides, I managed to get the target plus one of the shinobi. The boy's burnt to a crisp."

"Yeah, burnt! Burnt! Everything is burning!" a mad rant came from the last member as he spun around his kusari-gama. "I love it!"

"Calm down, Daisuke. Let's finished this. Wabisuke, use your Jutsu." Ryuusuke ordered as the man with the sunglasses nodded and disappeared into the ground with an Earth type Justu. "Daisuke, make them dance."

"Dance! Dance!" Dadsuke screamed madly as he jumped after the two female members of Team Seven and their Naruto's. He swung the spiked ball of his kusari-gama and smashed the weapon right down between them.

"Naruto, get Asami out of here! I can handle these three now! Go!" Tatsuki-sensei spun her sais in her hands before using one of them to pin the kusari-gama's chain to the ground. She used the other to attack Daisuke as the mad shinobi blocked the weapon with the blade part of his kusari-gama.

"We can't leave her!" Naruto growled.

"She ordered us to, Naruto! We need to go!" Asami retorted, trying to pull her clone with her with her one good arm.

"No, it's not safe. The third one is still underground and he seemed to be the cause of the explosions. We need to prepare to counter his attacks." the real Naruto stated as he watched his sensei fight Daisuke who was dancing around with light feet and wondered why the leader wasn't attacking.

"Something's wrong. Why isn't the leader attacking too? Also, what's up with the crazy guy's moves? It's like he's...shit! Take Asami out of here now! Go straight behind us and don't stop!" Naruto ordered his clone as it grabbed Asami and using a burst of wind, ran out of the battle zone, but was blocked by some kind of barrier. The real Naruto ran after Tatsuki-sensei unaware of what happened and tried to warn his sensei of the danger.

"Too late." Ryuusuke grinned darkly, his hands up in a seal and focused on a Jutsu that held all of them in a bubble of chakra.

The crazy shinobi quickly jumped back next to his leader and got out of the immediate area. Before Tatsuki could follow and attack the two with her most powerful Jutsu, the spots all over the ground started to glow red as they had earlier when they arrived.

Tatsuki's eyes widened in realization and knew she was in the middle of a massive mine field and surrounded by a barrier. She was better than this. She was a student of the great Jiraiya, the Toad Sage. Her teammate was the Fourth Hokage and his son was her student and soon to be adopted son. She was a top Jounin and yet, she fell for one stupid trap after another as she let her injuries distract her from releasing her true fighting abilities. Tatsuki felt her heart shatter, knowing she let Hiro died to save Naruto and now, her own life was forfeit because of her error in judgement.

She was better than this.

"Tatsuki-sensei!" Tatsuki heard the voice of her favorite person in world as she turned and watched in fear as Naruto ran into the mine field to save her. She couldn't let him die too. Not him. Nor her Naruto-kun. Tatsuki gritted her teeth as she quickly made a series of hand seals and turned around completely towards her son with her hands raised.

"No!"

She knew she could have gotten out of the field. She could have used what few precious seconds she had left to save her life. But his life, Naruto's life was more important to her than the world as she used Wind Release: Wind Gale Palm to push Naruto out of the field before tossing her sais out after him. She smiled as she watched her student fly back, a look of shock on his face and mouthed some words to him.

_I love you, Naruto._

...

A circle of massive fire erupted from the ground and consumed Tatsuki as Naruto watched in horror at his surrogate mother being erased from existence. The moments after were in slow motion and next thing Naruto knew, a huge shock wave followed and knocked him straight into the ground. Blood spat out of his mouth as his vision began to blur again from the immense pain. The last he could remember before falling unconscious was his clone being dispelled by the shock wave as it covered Asami from the blast of force. He could feel his heart break one last time at the sight of an unmoving Asami on the ground with blood dripping down from her forehead.

All he could think about before he fell unconscious was his family as he felt a large blade stabbed right through his body and into the ground.

_Hiro..._

_Asami..._

_Tatsuki..._


End file.
